“The tournament of my life”
Jan-Krzysztof Duda earned his title the hard way, knocking out Alexander Grischuk, Vidit Gujrathi, Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin in the final four rounds of the lengthy event while remaining undefeated. Talking to Nigel Short after beating Karjakin with the white pieces, a visibly exhausted Duda called this the tournament of his life “at least in classical chess” — the Polish star won the 2014 European Rapid Championship and got second place at the 2018 World Blitz Championship, when he finished half a point behind Carlsen.
In a final interview with FIDE press officer Michael Rahal, it was Carlsen himself who provided perhaps the best description of Duda’s performance in Sochi:
Huge congratulations to Duda for winning the World Cup. Considering the line of opponents he beat in the last four rounds, never losing a game — then obviously never being in a must-win or desperate situation — is a massive achievement. So, he is a richly deserved winner.
Besides taking home the $110,000 first prize and 18.2 rating points, the 23-year-old grandmaster gained a spot in the next edition of the Candidates Tournament. Clearly an ambitious sportsman, he now stands as a clear contender to become the next challenger to the world crown. In fact, Rahal asked him if he sees himself fighting for the World Championship in 2022. A confident Duda responded:
Yeah, why not? If I have such a good form like here, I’m probably unstoppable in such case.
The list of potential contenders for the world crown continues to grow, and we can only celebrate the fact that such an unpretentious yet determined player received the kind of confidence boost that might end up becoming a turning point in his professional career.
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Magnus Carlsen looking at the position from the neighbouring board after 24.Re5 | Photo: David Llada
In the deciding game of the tournament, Duda faced Karjakin’s Semi-Tarrasch Defence. Theory was followed until move 12, when the Polish deviated from a 2011 game between Anish Giri and Wang Yue. Already two moves later, Karjakin spent almost 20 minutes trying to find the best continuation.
Duda vs. Karjakin - Game 2
As in many other lines arising from the Queen’s Gambit Declined, White has a small positional edge, although a defender like Karjakin should not consider this position with black to be a failure by any means. However, as Duda noted, the Russian was visibly tired, a factor that soon became evident.
The game continued 14...Bxb2 (not a mistake, but 14...a6 seems to be more precise) 15.Ke2 Bf6 16.Rhd1 Rac8 17.Bc4
Karjakin went for 17...Qb4, when 17...Na5 or placing a rook on d8 are better tries, and the queens were exchanged: 18.Qb3 Qxb3 19.Bxb3
Again 19...Rfd8 or 19...a6 looked like reasonable continuations, while 19...Nb8 is more of a concession. White naturally responded with 20.g4
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This is when Duda considered that Karjakin made the crucial mistake in the game, going for 20...h6, weakening his kingside, instead of 20...Na6, preparing to cement the knight on c5 with a ...b6-push later.
White had a clear advantage and, although Duda’s conversion was not flawless (he missed 27.Rxd8 for example), he never seemed to lose control of the situation — among other nice moves, the Polish grandmaster found the good-looking 25.Rd7.
The ever-fighting Karjakin resigned on move 30. Most importantly, the 2015 World Cup winner qualified to the Candidates, a tournament he won back in 2016.
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 c5 5.cxd5 cxd4 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Bg5 Be7 8.e3 0-0 9.Rd1 Nc6 10.Qa4 Be6 11.Bb5 Qb6 12.Bxf6N 12.0-0 a6 13.Bxc6 bxc6 14.Qc2 Rfd8 15.Na4 Qa5 16.Nd4 Bd7 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Nc5 12...Bxf6 13.Nxd5 Bxd5 14.Rxd5 Bxb2 15.Ke2 Bf6 16.Rhd1 Rac8 17.Bc4 Qb4 18.Qb3 Qxb3 19.Bxb3 Nb8 20.g4 h6 20...g6 21.h4!± g6 22.g5 hxg5 23.hxg5 Be7 24.Re5 Nc6 24...Bc5± 25.Re4 Kg7 25.Rd7!+- Bd8 26.Rb5 26.Rxb7 Nxe5 27.Nxe5 Rc7= 26...Na5 26...b6± 27.Bd5 a5 27.Bd5 27.Rxd8! Rcxd8 28.Rxa5 27...Rc7 27...Rc2+ 28.Kf1 Rc7 29.Bxf7+ Kg7 30.Rxc7 Bxc7 28.Bxf7+! Kg7 29.Rxc7 Bxc7 30.Bd5 1–0 - Start an analysis engine:
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Duda,J | 2738 | Karjakin,S | 2757 | 1–0 | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 8.1 |
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Two in a row
Carlsen had high praise for Duda, but he also performed remarkably well in Sochi, losing only two rapid games and obtaining an 11/14 score in classical chess, which gained him 8.4 rating points — a great achievement for the man who has a 56-point advantage over the second-highest rated player in the world!
The Norwegian finished the tournament in style, getting back-to-back victories over Fedoseev — managing to fully dominate his opponent’s pieces twice in a row. By move 36 in game 2, Carlsen had amassed a large advantage.
Carlsen vs. Fedoseev - Game 2
Here the world champion uncorked 36.Rxf7. Much like in Duda’s game, after 36...Kxf7 37.Qxe6 Black was suffering along the a2-g8 light-squared diagonal. Carlsen repeated moves a couple of times to reach the time control, and then found a way to leave his opponent’s army completely stuck for a second consecutive day.
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Fedoseev resigned in this position. The black rook cannot move without making a major concession, while the white king is ready to calmly infiltrate along the light squares. It was yet another brilliant showing by the strongest player in the world!
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1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.cxd5 Qxd5 7.Nge2N 7.a3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Ne7 9.Nf3 0-0 10.Bd3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 c5 12.a4 cxd4 13.cxd4 Nbc6 7...Qd8 8.a3 Ba5 9.Ng3 Ne7 10.Bc4 Bg6 11.h4 h6 12.h5 Bh7 13.Qg4 Kf8 13...Bf5 14.Nxf5 14.Qxg7 Rh7 14...Nxf5 14.0-0± Nd7 15.Nce4 Bc7 16.Ba2 Nf5 17.Nxf5 Bxf5 18.Qf3 Qe7 19.Ng3 Bh7 20.Qg4 c5 21.Bd2! Rd8 22.f4 Nb6 22...cxd4? 23.Bb4+- 22...Nb8± 23.Bc3+- Nd5 24.f5 24.Bxd5+- exd5 25.dxc5 24...Ne3± 25.Qf3 Nxf5 25...cxd4? 26.Bb4+- 26.Nxf5 Bxf5 27.d5 Bb6 28.Bc4 Kg8 28...Qh4± 29.Qf4 29.dxe6 Bxe6 30.b3 Bxc4= 29...Qxf4 30.Rxf4 Ke8 29.d6? 29.Qe2!+- 29...Qh4 30.b3 Rd7 31.Qe2 Qg4 31...Bg4!= 32.Rf4 Bxe2 33.Rxh4 Bd8 32.Rxf5!+- Qxf5 32...exf5? 33.Qxg4 fxg4 34.e6+- 33.Rf1 Qg5 34.Bd2! Qd8 35.Qg4 a6? 35...Qe8 36.Bb5 c4+ 37.Kh2 cxb3 36.Rxf7‼ Kxf7 36...Rxf7 37.Qxe6 37.Qxe6+ 37.Bxe6+ Kf8 38.Qf5+ Ke8 39.Qg6+ Kf8 40.Bxd7 Qxd7 41.e6 Qe8 42.e7+ Qxe7 43.dxe7+ Kxe7 44.Qxg7+ Kd6 45.Qxh8 37...Kf8 38.Qf5+ Ke8 39.Qg6+ 39.Bf4 Qh4 40.g3 39...Kf8 40.Qf5+ 40.e6 Qf6 41.Qxf6+ gxf6 42.exd7 40...Ke8 41.Qg6+ 41.Bf4 Bc7 42.e6 41...Kf8 42.e6 Qf6 43.exd7 Qxg6 44.hxg6 Bd8 45.Be6 h5 46.Kf2 h4 47.Bg4 b5 48.Kf3 b4 49.axb4 cxb4 1–0 - Start an analysis engine:
- Try maximizing the board:
- Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
- Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
- Drag the split bars between window panes.
- Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
- Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
- Create an account to access the games cloud.
Carlsen,M | 2847 | Fedoseev,V | 2696 | 1–0 | 2021 | | FIDE World Cup 2021 | 8.2 |
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Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Fedoseev | Photo: David Llada
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